environment. We must design lighting products
bearing in mind how the new sources have
modified the visual, biological, and emotional
impact that light has on those who live in the
illuminated space. Energy saving brought by LEDs
and the systems that regulate the luminous
flow are not sufficient, alone, to guarantee the
sustainability of the entire life-cycle of the
product. Undesired emissions and waste must
be decreased, the duration of the products must
be extended making them extremely robust
and reliable, replacement of the electric
components in time must be foreseen, as also
the separation of the materials at the end of the
life of the product, for recycling or necessary
disposal. Those who design lighting products are
experiencing a period of deep changes and great
challenges, and certainly they do not get bored.
Enzo Panzeri
Designer & Production Manager, Panzeri
1
Giacomo Rossi
lighting designer, Rossi Lighting
Daniele Ruzza 1
design, Angeletti Ruzza Design Solid state technology has led to a true
revolution in our sector, literally changing the
way we think of light, in terms of defining the
lighting scenographies and also the product.
Up to not many years ago, solid state technology
was seen only in terms of luminous efficiency
and, therefore, energy saving, but this is only
a microscopic part of the numerous qualities
that characterize it.
1
This is only the beginning of a true change.
At present the new technologies guarantee
a better performance in terms of sustainability
and energy saving, but for the rest every effort
is being made to reproduce the colour, and
especially the warmth, of incandescent light.
The quality of the “new” light is surely better
and clear, but at the same time it is as if this
new technology had not found its authentic
soul. Surely it has brought new lymph to
an aesthetical language that is dry and also
more architectural, but it still has not found
its full original essence.
2
I believe there still is a long way to go.
LED technology has partly dematerialized
the source. The task of the designer is to find
new aesthetic and poetic languages. In these
past years we have started to see the first
lighting fixtures that integrate well, and with
poetry, the technology in the shape of the
lamp. I think that we are still far from
a full maturity with regard to expression.
Everything looks very correct, but I feel it is
still somewhat aseptic.
3
I think of what can be achieved with the
new technology in hospitals and closed
environments to improve the life of patients
who must undergo invasive radiology
treatment or long-term hospitalization.
In certain contexts, to reproduce natural
light through artificial skies can lead to real
wellbeing and relaxation.
The transition from traditional sources to LEDs
has surely caused a revolution in the design
of lighting fixtures and also in the way of
thinking of ambient lighting. If we look at the
product, the miniaturization of the sources has
opened the way to new design solutions that
were unthinkable till then. If we also add the
possibility of extending the light emitting
surface infinitely, new roads open up for us, as
in the case of architectural profiles that increase
the level of interpretation of a lighting design
project and, therefore, become an enormously
flexible instrument for designers. Furthermore,
the decrease in energy consumption, today, is a
fundamental aspect when designing buildings.
2
I fully agree. As I just mentioned, today,
to speak of light in the solid state exclusively
in terms of energy saving, is reductive. Factors
such as the form of the LEDs and the related
optical systems are among the details that
closely involve the development of new lighting
systems towards an ever increasing
miniaturization. This favours maximum
integration in the design of architecture, interior
decoration, etc., and it is a new challenge for
all the designers who deal with lighting design,
on different scales: from the product to the city.
3
Among the other strong points of this
technology we find simple management,
configuration, and adaptability to network
systems that may even be complex. This enables
the designer to create scenographies of
intelligent lighting systems that can potentially
become part of a general system in which the
lighting fixture is the instrument used to collect
information that is then used to improve the
experience of a person in a space. I believe
this is the future.
Bella, sospensione / suspension
Enzo Panzeri, 2019
2
From this point of view, I believe that the
integration of form and function in lighting
fixtures is increasingly supportive, as it is always
less binding. Use of point-sources of light
supports design because they do not create
“constraints” of any type. There is no pre-set
change of scale, as it is determined by the
expressive creativity of the designer, supported
by the use of optics that modify the linearity
of the relation between the shape of the
lighting fixture and the light distribution.
3
Cylinda, Oluce, 2017
design di / by Angeletti Ruzza Design
Control of light is much more dynamic and
increasingly dedicated to a flexible management
that considers the lighting fixture as a part
of a larger system. And I refer to the IoT, which,
thanks to the integration of sensors for data
collection, has made the products “smart”,
whose complexity of the manufacturing process
is greatly compensated by the intelligent use
we can make of the collected data. In this
context, our responsibility lies in the analysis
of this information and the capacity to draw
benefit from it.
LED DESIGN SPECIAL REPORT / LUCE 328
21